Search to find culprits of 100 bags of rubbish, covering 1.6 miles, flytipped in South Yorkshire

The search is on to find the culprits of 100 bags of rubbish, covering 1.6 miles, flytipped in South Yorkshire

Barnsley Council is urging residents to share any information they might have on a large fly tipping incident that took place last Thursday, 14 February on Clayton Lane from Thurnscoe towards Clayton.

The fly tipping was discovered at around 8pm and featured over 100 large white bags discarded along the road through Clayton village towards Hooton Pagnell, finishing just before the railway bridge. The bags which covered a distance of 1.6 miles seemed to be equally spaced along the road, suggesting someone had thrown them off/out of a lorry or van. The rubbish included wood with nails, large silver piping insulation, polystyrene and bags of dirt. Each bag of dangerous waste was scattered across the highway causing extremely hazardous conditions to drivers on both sides of the carriageway. One large bag blocked both sides of the road just after the school causing drivers to stop and get out of their vehicles.

Due to the seriousness of the incident, Barnsley Council is asking residents who might have seen anything to come forward. Useful information could include the type of vehicle used, their number plate and descriptions of any people involved. They are also looking for CCTV footage or dash-cam footage from drivers traveling down this road between 8pm – 8.15pm at the time of the incident.

This is the second occurrence of its type and follows a similar fly tip along the highway from Barugh Green to Ingbirchworth on 14 January around 6pm. This incident ran for over 6 miles through Cawthorne, up North Lane, past Naylor’s onto Halifax Rd towards Ingbirchworth. This incident saw a similar number of bags of waste disposed of along the carriageway causing danger to drivers as they had to weave around debris, broken glass and general rubbish.

Barnsley Council continues to take a tough stance on fly tipping. The fixed penalty notice for illegally disposing of waste was recently raised to £400, and many perpetrators have been caught and prosecuted as part of their #EverybodyThink campaign. The campaign encourages everyone to dispose of their unwanted items and rubbish responsibly.

Cllr Roy Miller, Cabinet Spokesperson for Place, said: “Fly tipping costs, taxpayers, thousands of pounds every year. Through our #EverybodyThink campaign we are working hard to change these patterns of behaviour and continue to crack down on those people who want to spoil our borough.

"Due to the sheer scale and length of the incidents, someone must have witnessed this or even seen vehicles being loaded with these sort of items earlier on each of the days. I urge residents who have any information about either of these particular fly tipping incidents, to please get in touch and help us to identify the culprits who are blighting Barnsley. We will not let these criminals get away with their illegal and dangerous behaviour.”

If you have any information, please email Barnsley Council at safer@barnsley.gov.uk or send a message to the council’s Facebook and Twitter pages.